A Battle of Will
by SlayersFan132
Summary: It all starts with a trip to Ruvinagald that's bound to fail...and THEN it gets bad. Takes place a year after Evolution R.
1. Chapter 1

**A Battle of Will: Chapter 1**

Lina gulps down the remainder of her food and sighs in contentment. She and Gourry have been staying here in Seyruun for almost a week, but only because they're waiting for Amelia to be done with her boring princess stuff, as well as the fact that the young princess is expecting a visitor. Amelia has continued to leave this visitor unnamed, but with the swing in her step and extra cheeriness, Lina has a pretty good guess at who it may be. Then again, Amelia could have just gotten even more annoying in the year since they fought the ghost of Shabranigdo.

Lina's mind runs through any remaining possibilities that she hasn't vetoed already and comes to her final conclusion: the visitor that is supposed to come at exactly noon today must be none other than...

"Miss Lina, why are you so quiet all of a sudden?"

"Oh, it's nothing, Amelia," Lina replies, flashing an evil grin and a victory sign. The self-proclaimed sorceress supreme stands and exits the room, her pet swordsman following closely behind.

"Why am I not surprised...?" Lina hears Amelia ask herself as the princess also leaves the room, heading towards her office.

Last year, after the group fought Shabranigdo for the second time, Lina and Gourry had continued to search for a worthy sword, Amelia had started back to Seyruun, and Zelgadis had gone off on yet another search for a cure, still defiant. Since then Amelia had kept in contact with all of them. If Lina is correct, Amelia probably wants to get them all together again to go off on a mission for Seyruun. Shouldn't she know by now that whenever Lina Inverse is involved, something is bound to go wrong?

"Oh, before I forget, Miss Lina, Daddy wants to know if you're okay with helping out Ruvinagald."

Apparently not.

* * *

Amelia walks into her office to see a letter laying on her desk, right in the middle. Apparently, she had gotten a letter during breakfast. The young princess checks the return address.

There isn't one, which means it's from Zelgadis.

She opens the letter and reads it.

_'Amelia,_

_I can't make it in time. The townspeople over in one of the cities south of Seyruun decided to throw me in jail...again. I escaped, but that was after about an hour of multiple tries. I should get there soon._

_Sorry to disappoint,_

_Zelgadis.'_

Amelia sighs, "Mister Zelgadis got thrown in jail _again_? How many times do I have to lecture him on how _not _to get thrown into jail?!"

She shakes her head and begins working on her paperwork. She's already halfway through it when she notices a short message taped to one of her pens. It's from her father; something about...getting married.

Amelia turns her full attention to the note and reads it aloud. "'My dear Amelia, I'm sorry to force you into this, but I, and the kingdom as a whole, need you to marry a prince, and we need you to marry soon. I'm sure you understand the reasons behind it, and I don't want to force you to make a decision, but it is for a just reason. You will meet a few suitors tomorrow for lunch. From, Your Loving Father.'" She widens her eyes. "Daddy...why didn't you tell me in person?"

* * *

Phil paces the throne room, where he knows that Amelia will eventually arrive. He didn't want to force her to marry, not on such short notice, but the Council has demanded it be so. It has his blood boiling with the urge to deal Justice upon them, but he knows that it would make the royal family look bad.

"Daddy!"

"Amelia," the king replies in a rather cheery attitude.

His daughter waves the note in his face before throwing it to the ground. Her eyes are red and swollen. She must have been crying. "Why didn't you tell me before now, and why not in person?!" she cries.

Phil is taken aback by how emotional Amelia is getting about this. When he was eighteen, three years younger than she is now, he was forced to marry, and he found someone he loved. Surely Amelia knew this day would come...?

"Amelia, I discussed this with the Council while you were at breakfast with Lina. I didn't expect this to happen so soon, but it's wise to marry you off before—"

"'Marry me off'?!" Amelia exclaims. "Daddy, I'm not a _thing_, I'm a human being, just like you! You can't just choose who I'm gonna marry! I'll never be as lucky as you were with Mother! I can't find someone like that!"

Phil replies, "You're right, Amelia, you'll be even luckier. No just person would take advantage of how kind and beautiful you are."

"Daddy, you don't understand. No one out there is just. No one ever was. It's a cruel world, and you're simply ignorant of it. Miss Lina, Mister Gourry, and Mister Zelgadis made me realize that. Didn't you ever hear about how Rezo the Red Priest resurrected the Dark Lord Shabranigdo? Twice? Miss Lina had to use her most powerful and deadly spell to defeat him, and even then it wouldn't have worked if Mister Pokota and Rezo hadn't helped her. For all we know, some random prince could just walk in and ask to marry me, and you would say yes. What if it turned out to be some jerk I'd be stuck with for the rest of my life?!" Amelia yells. Tears have started streaming down her cheeks again, and her eyes are burning with rage and despair.

The king blinks once or twice before his daughter's words sink in. Justice isn't really supported; it's just a joke that all their allied kingdoms are playing along with. Ruvinagald, Taforashia, Ragna...they're all just allies to take advantage of Seyruun's supplies.

"A-Amelia, how long have you kept this in?" Phil stutters.

"For far too long," she snaps back, turning to leave the room. "Tell the Council that Crown Princess Amelia says, 'I'm not getting married if it means I'll have to listen to you_._'"

With that, Amelia leaves the room, and even after she's long gone, Phil continues to stare at the door in disbelief. Only hours later does he leave the room to relay her reaction to the Council.

* * *

Lina hears shouting coming from the throne room, and it sounds like Amelia who's doing all of it. The black magic sorceress wonders what got Amelia so worked up; she never gets this emotional. Just as Lina reaches the huge doors, the crown princess bursts out and almost rams directly into her.

"M-Miss Lina, what are you doing here?" Amelia asks, trying desperately to erase the tears from her face.

"Your yelling was kind of hard to miss. After all, you _are _the most joyful and cheery person I know," Lina replies. She frowns and puts her arm around Amelia's shoulder, softening into a side of her which is rarely shown. "Amelia, what happened? You never get so upset."

Amelia hesitates before gesturing for Lina to follow. The red-head doesn't miss the fact that Amelia stands far enough that she can't touch her. The two arrive in Amelia's bedroom, and the princess closes the door softly.

"I-I..." She blinks back more tears as she sits down on her bed. "I got in a fight with Daddy. He said that I had to marry someone, and he still thinks that everyone in the world is all...just. He thinks that anyone who looks nice and acts nice actually _is _nice, and I...I tried to tell him that no one is like that, that they never were, but I doubt the message came through."

Lina's eyes soften considerably. She sits down next to Amelia and gives her a hug. "Listen, Amelia. Phil and whoever else says you have to marry are wrong. I know plenty of women that rule a kingdom without a husband."

"Miss Lina, I never said I didn't want to marry anyone. I said I don't wanna marry some snobby, spoiled brat who thinks he can say and do whatever he wants to," Amelia whispers. "I want to marry someone who cares, someone who loves me for who I am, not someone who wants to marry me because I'm a princess."

"People like...?"

She almost smiles, her head on Lina's shoulder. "People like Mister Gourry, or Mister Pokota."

Lina is almost taken aback. Amelia hasn't mentioned Zelgadis at all, which is really surprising. So Lina comes right out and asks, "What about people like Zelgadis?"

A simple reply, full of honesty. "No one is like Mister Zelgadis."

She smiles and nods, "You're right, Amelia. No one could come close to Zelgadis' kindness. He may not know it, but no one here really cares what he looks like, or what he acts like. We all know that he has a great personality. Sure, his humor may have vanished into thin air a few years ago, but someone has to be the serious one, right?"

Amelia beams at Lina as she replies, "Right."

* * *

Zelgadis is walking towards Seyruun when his messenger bird appears on the horizon. He can only tell it's his because it was enchanted with his magic, which he can sense from almost five miles away, as well as Amelia's.

When it arrives, it lands on his outstretched arm and gives him a letter.

_'Dear Mister Zelgadis,_

_First off, STOP GETTING THROWN INTO JAIL! Do you_ like _getting arrested or something?! And second...__I__ had a bit of a problem as well; I'll tell you about it when you arrive, but you should probably hurry. Miss Lina just barged into my room and yelled, "Where the heck is he? I'm impatient!" as well as a few...colorful words that I'm not allowed to repeat. I hope to see you soon._

_Yours Truly,_

_Amelia.'_

Zelgadis nods to himself and slips the letter into one of his concealed pockets. "Hmm...I wonder what Amelia's 'problem' was," he wonders. "Probably some pointless argument with Justice involved, but then again, Amelia isn't one to say she'll tell me later, which means it must be a pretty big problem."

After some consideration, he casts Ray Wing and hurries towards the castle.

* * *

Lina, Gourry, and Amelia are eating lunch when a guard knocks on the door and comes in.

"Princess Amelia, your visitor has arrived."

Lina and Gourry exchange glances, but Amelia nods and stares intently at the doorway, where a familiar beige-cloaked figure arrives just as the clock strikes one.

"Hey, guys. Miss me?"

Amelia rushes forward and tackles him over with a hug. "Mister Zelgadis!"

He sweatdrops. "Amelia, will you _please _get off of me?"

She blushes and gets off, offering a hand to help him up.

"Okay, now that all that familiar awkwardness has passed," Lina smirks, "how have you been, Zel? Still haven't found a cure?"

"Obviously. Who else covers up like this all the time?" he asks, gesturing to his attire.

Gourry frowns, "Hold on, I got this one...I know! Assassins sometimes dress up like that!"

Zelgadis facefaults and Lina sweatdrops, and she grabs it to hit Gourry in the face. "You idiot! It was a rhetorical question!"

"Er...what does 'rhetorical' mean?"

Amelia supplies helpfully, "A rhetorical question is a question that no one really needs to answer. Basically it's a question that the answer should be obvious to."

"At least _someone _knows what it means," Zelgadis grumbles.

"Tell me about it," Lina replies.

"Remind me again why we travel with such idiots?"

"One of them can heal wounds better than we can, and the other is a pretty tough swordsman."

"Right, but I'm not too shabby myself, and we both know healing spells," Zelgadis mutters.

Lina rolls her eyes. "Zel, get back to the point. Why'd you come here in the first place?"

He sighs, pulling his hood down and sitting at the table with them. "Amelia told me that Seyruun owes Ruvinagald a favor. I need to be there to discuss diplomatic stuff, she needs to be there as a representative of Seyruun as well as the crown princess, and we were hoping you were coming along to blow stuff up if it doesn't go our way. And of course Gourry follows you everywhere, so it's just the four of us on another adventure."

"Hey, Zel? You're forgetting two things: one, I tend to attract evil, super-powerful demon lords, and two, Inspector Wizer is probably still mad at me for not letting him arrest me. So I probably shouldn't go," she explains.

"Yes, but _you're _forgetting something. A demon lord will probably attack you while we're over in Ruvinagald, so if you're on the other side of the world off trying to kill yet another demon lord, we won't be able to provide you with enough time to cast yet another Giga Slave." Zelgadis glances over at Amelia, who is busy gazing at him with adoration.

"Er...yeah, Miss Lina," Amelia says, blushing in embarrassment and turning away from him. "You probably wouldn't have enough time to cast it, since we wouldn't be there to help provide a distraction."

"Amelia, that's exactly what I said," Zelgadis explains slowly, as if he thought Amelia was dense.

"Mister Zelgadis, it's not nice to assume someone is dull-witted just because they repeat things!" she cries, striking a Justice Pose and pointing at him.

"You're pointing."

Amelia facefaults.

Lina smirks. "Okay, fine. I'll come along. But the second Wizer shows up—"

"—is the second you blow up," Amelia and Zelgadis recite.

Amelia continues, "We know, Miss Lina, which is exactly why we inquired that Ruvinagald ban Mister Wizer from the meeting. Everyone knows you still have a grudge against him, and he, you, so Ruvinagald's High Council agreed to attempt to keep him away, but knowing Mister Wizer, and knowing you, Miss Lina, there's something bound to go wrong."

"What's _that _supposed'ta mean?!" Lina growls, holding the crown princess in a headlock.

"N-nothing, Miss Lina! It's just that Mister Wizer could appear at any second, and..."

"And _what_?!"

"...and you could attract a...um, a demon lord, at any time, so..."

"Amelia's right, Lina," Zelgadis points out. "Your mood changes whenever someone mentions your title, your temper, your bust..."

"_What was that?!_" Energy gathers in Lina's hands as she begins to mutter, "_Darkness beyond twilight, Crimson beyond blood that flows..._"

Zelgadis smirks and adds, "Hey, who would've known that you were Lina the Pink, a temperamental, flat-chested girl?" He then whispers to Amelia, "I kinda guessed your problem. I decided blowing up the castle would handle it," and picks she and Gourry up, flying quickly away as Lina screams the last words of her incantation.

"Okay, I guess that trip to Ruvinagald is off," Gourry observes as the city of Seyruun goes down in flames.

"Tonight, Lina's young, so she'll set the palace on fire, even brighter than the sun..." Zelgadis sings cheerily.

"Tonight, Lina's young, so she'll set Seyruun on fire, even brighter than her hair..." Amelia adds.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand where all o' this is coming from," Gourry sings, "I thought that we were fine,"

"YOU IDIOT! THAT'S THE WRONG SONG!"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Here's chapter two, which is a bit shorter than most of my chapters. Many thanks to Animejunkies'meow for sending a review, and a future thanks to anyone who reviews in the future. Please R&R, everyone!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Slayers or UP (which is what Phil is copying, basically. Just wait for it.)**

**A Battle of Will: Chapter 2**

After the dust settles, Lina looks around and widens her eyes. "Oh, no...I owe Seyruun now."

Phil is twitching over in a pile of ashes and cinder blocks, but when he emerges, he is literally glowing red. "LINA INVERSE!"

The guilty redhead puts on her most innocent and adorable face, along with a blonde wig, blue contacts, and a whole different outfit. "L-Lina Inverse? I didn't know she was here! Where is she? I've always wanted her autograph!" The fake blonde aka Lina Inverse holds out a pencil and a pad of paper.

Phil sees right through it. "Lina, you owe me for building damage, city damage, citizen damage..." He begins to write on her notepad, finally finishing with a striking price of...

"WHAT?! Lina Inverse owes you 450,000,000,000 gold?! B-but...she can just blow you up again! What's gonna happen then?!" she cries, looking over the notepad.

Phil frowns, "But aren't you...?" He begins looking around the area, calling, "Lina!" and clapping his hands. "C'mere, Lina!"

She sighs in relief and wipes a sweatdrop off her forehead. "Thank Ceipheed..."

* * *

Zelgadis, Amelia, and Gourry are all standing outside of Seyruun, waiting for Lina to come back and eat Zelgadis, because after all, she _is _Lina Inverse, and just for being herself she was put under yet another "Wanted" sign.

Gourry is still singing. "...we're not broken, just bent, and we can learn to love again..."

And every time he sings a syllable, Zelgadis is smacking him in the face, so it sounds more like this: "...we're (ow) not (ouchie) bro(oww)ken (that hurts!) just (quit it!)..." Eventually the dumb blonde decided it was a good idea to stop singing love songs. So instead...

"Wake to see your true emancipation is a fantasy..." Soon he gets to the chorus and decides to show off his falsetto. "You...don't have long; I'm on...to you. The time...it has come...to destrooooooy...your SUPREMACY!"

And Amelia starts hitting him on the head.

"Okay, okay! How about this one?" Gourry asks as he starts singing a song Zelgadis can only guess at. "(It could be wrong, could be wrong,) But it shouldn't be right, (It could be wrong, could be wrong,) So let our hearts ignite, (It could be wrong, could be wrong,) Are we digging a hole? (It could be wrong, could be wrong,) This is out of control. (It could be wrong, could be wrong,) It could never last. (It could be wrong, could be wrong,) Must erase it fast..."

"GOURRY! JUST _SHUT UP!_" both of them yell.

"Fine," he whimpers, sitting down and nursing his poor, poor head.

* * *

Meanwhile Lina wanders around the rubble, still dressed in her disguise. Who knew that acting like a dumb blonde could be so effective? Well, maybe Gourry knows that, but then again, he _is _a dumb blonde, so maybe it doesn't work with him.

"Maybe I need to take some lessons from Gourry; Phil almost caught me..." Lina murmurs quietly. "Then again, what I said was true. I could just blow him up again." She curses loudly. "But 450,000,000,000? Even Phil wouldn't charge that much!"

"Lina!" Phil's voice is audible as he continues to call for the (innocent) redhead. He glances around. "Huh. I wonder where she went? It's not like Lina to vanish near a crime scene. I would guess she'd be busy robbing the secret vault over in the stack of rubble..."

_Oh, Phil. _Lina grins wickedly. _You're so stupid, yet so brilliant._

The disguise works perfectly as the supposed blonde walks over to Phil and says, "Excuse me, sir, but maybe I could help you move Seyruun's vault to a safe place, because if Miss Lina is wandering around here, she'll surely find it!"

The king agrees and gives the blonde Lina the combination for the vault. "Thank you, young lady! It's very kind of you to offer to help me hide that vault. It holds a lot of gold."

"Of course it does," Lina grins before laughing nervously and rephrasing. "I mean, of course, sir! Seyruun _is _the white magic capital of the world, after all. It would only make sense for you to gain a lot of profit."

Phil smiles heartily, but then he pauses. "Oh, have you seen Amelia anywhere? I need to talk to her."

"You mean the crown princess? No, I haven't seen her around here." _Where did they go, anyway? I owe Zel a certain 'apology'. _Lina scowls.

"Okay, thanks, young miss! I'll be sure to keep a look out for Lina, just in case you're still hiding the gold."

"Of course, sir! I'll do the same." Lina smiles adorably, one eye closed as she flashes a victory sign.

Phil taps his chin for a second. "Oh, I almost forgot! What's your name?"

"Er...it's Emily. My name is Emily."

"Goodbye, Miss Emily, and good luck!" Phil skips away almost as cheerfully as his daughter would.

Lina unlocks the vault and stuffs half of the gold in her endless-pocketed cloak.

* * *

"Why's Lina taking so long?" Zelgadis wonders aloud.

"Yeah," Amelia agrees. "Normally she'd be back in all her mad fury by now."

Gourry looks thoughtful for a moment, which kind of scares the princess and the chimera. Then the blonde says carefully, "Wouldn't it be ironic if Lina dressed up as a dumb blonde with blue eyes and tricked Phil into giving her the combination to the secret vault that used to be behind the giant picture in the dining hall?"

Amelia exchanges a glance with Zelgadis.

"LINA!" they all yell, dashing off towards Seyruun and simply avoiding the fact that Gourry thought of something that was most likely correct.

* * *

Meanwhile Filia and Xellos stand beside the huge crater that used to be Seyruun's castle.

"Well, this looks familiar," Filia states, staring at the wreckage.

Xellos smiles in that overly cheerful way of his. "Of course, Filia! Remember that time...oh, right, you weren't there."

"_What _time?" The golden dragon demands, shaking Xellos until his head popped off.

"There was that time over in episode 1 where Lina blew up a town and all the townspeople chased after her..."

"Oh, right. That." Filia nods thoughtfully before yelling, "WHY WAS I ONLY IN SEASON 3?!"

"Because you're a Ryuuzoku."

"YOU FILTHY PIECE OF NAMAGOMI!"

"Aw, Filia, I'm wounded. How could you say that to your poor, poor, lonely husband?"

"YOU ARE NOT MY HUSBAND, YOU PERVERT!"

From around a mile away, Zelgadis, Gourry, and Amelia hear the smack of metal against bone. "Well, I guess Fiali and Soda are back," Gourry comments.

Zelgadis smacks himself in the face and mutters, "Stupid jellyfish-brain."

"Isn't that Lina's line?" Amelia asks innocently.

"Not anymore."

Gourry then adds, "Hey, were we looking for something?"

Zelgadis and Amelia then smack themselves in the faces before lifting Gourry up into the air and screaming, "LINA, IF YOU EVEN TRY TO HACK INTO THAT VAULT!"

* * *

Lina dashes towards her friends, out of her costume, and yells, "Hey, guys! How are you on this lovely day?"

Amelia lands beside her and growls, under high restraint, "Miss Lina, if you don't give Daddy back that money, I will make sure to drag you to Ruvinagald and stick you in a volcano. _Give. It. Back._"

"But if you stuck Lina in a volcano, wouldn't all the money melt and form golden lava?" Gourry asks.

Lina and Amelia blinks rapidly at him before their eyes glimmer with money signs. "Wow, think of all that money!" Lina mutters at the same time Amelia says, "We could stop world hunger!"

Then the two women resume glaring at each other.

"Um, Lina, you might want to run," Zelgadis mentions, pointing towards a troupe of guards running towards her with flaming pitchforks and country accents.

"Get back here, you!"

"Save the money, y'all!"

"Hurry! It's Lina Inverse!"

"No! Run away! It's Lina Inverse!"

Lina sighs and snaps her fingers. "Aqua Create."

The pitchforked guards fly into the air.

* * *

**A/N: Phil clapping his hands and calling, "C'mere, Lina!" is based off of UP, the Disney movie. By the way, I happen to love Supremacy by Muse. I suggest you listen to it.**

**Oh, before I forget, I would really love a fanpic of a scene from either chapter 1 or 2. I would really like to see Amelia yelling at Phil (:P) or maybe Gourry pointing out something smart as Amelia and Zelgadis exchange looks. Please send it to my e-mail account, which is on my profile, and please tell me before you do, okay? 3 Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Here's chapter 3! Have fun reading this, because I know I had fun writing it! Our story's enemy is introduced in this chapter. Beware: you may lose your sanity along the way.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Slayers, but the plot is mine. Please R&R.**

**A Battle of Will: Chapter 03.**

Gourry yawns as he walks near the back of the group. _Why are we leaving Seyruun again?_ he wonders before asking the question aloud.

Lina smacks him as Zelgadis explains patiently, "Gourry, we're leaving Seyruun to go to Ruvinagald, where we have to discuss a peace treaty because of..." The blue chimera points at Lina.

"So why would Lina cause something like that?" the blonde asks, waiting for a reply even as Lina's eyes glint red before she goes into hyper mode and launches a super-powered Fireball at Zelgadis.

Amelia sighs and adds on to Zelgadis' explanation. "Mister Gourry, do you remember back when Mister Wizer came and tried to arrest Miss Lina for being herself?" Gourry shakes his head. "Of course not," the princess sighs. "Well, she was trying to prove her innocence when Mister Pokota came along and blew up the city we were in."

"Oh, right!" the swordsman cries with Lina in the background holding Zelgadis in a headlock. "It was that John guy! And I had a pet jellyfish!"

Amelia sighs in resignation. "Yeah, I guess that sums it up."

Gourry frowns for a second before asking, "Hey, why do I smell hot rocks?"

"...oops..." Lina says in a small voice.

* * *

They soon arrive at the next town, carrying a bucket full of blue lava and a pair of eyes which are glaring at Lina the whole time.

"I'm sorry, okay, Zelgadis? I didn't mean to melt you!" Lina pauses for a second before saying, "I didn't think you _could _melt, especially not after Shabranigdo sent one of those giant fire birds after you."

He continues to glare at her.

"How many times do I have to apologize?!" the redhead cries. "At least Amelia hasn't spilled you; otherwise we'd have cooled-off bits of blue igneous rocks everywhere.

The glare intensifies.

"Why do _I _have to carry him, Miss Lina?" Amelia complains.

"Because Gourry needs to have his hands free right now," Lina replies as a ton of Berserkers appear out of nowhere. "See?"

The princess sighs. "Sometimes I wish you weren't so accurate all the time."

* * *

"I accept your apology," Zelgadis says after Lina has apologized for the millionth time and he has regained his shape. Strangely, he magically molded back to his usual form, stones and all.

"FINALLY!" the redhead cries.

"...but you still haven't apologized for blowing me to outer space..."

Soon Lina's face is covered in a waterfall of tears. "PLEASE, MISTER ZELGADIS! I DIDN'T MEAN TO BLOW YOU TO ANOTHER MULTIVERSE, BURN YOU INTO A PUDDLE OF BLUE LAVA, AND STEAL THE GOLD FROM YOUR CLOAK!"

"WHAT?!"

Lina blinks and laughs nervously, handing over one of her largest pouches of gold.

"Lina..." Zelgadis starts. "This is only half of what I had."

She pouts and hands him another huge bag of gold. "There, Princess Zelgadis. Are you happy now?"

"And now you've got one more thing to apologize for," he says, writing it down on the ever-growing list of people who need to apologize and why. "While I'm at it, Amelia, you still haven't apologized for calling me creepy when we first met."

And so begins Amelia's apologies.

* * *

The Fantastic Four (more like Freaky Four) end their day beside an old, abandoned road.

Amelia is keeping watch when suddenly she drifts off into slumber. Quiet footsteps creep into the clearing.

"Hey, boss," one of the men whispers. "Who should we grab?"

A tall woman with curly black hair down to her waist smirks and points to one of them. "Grab that one. We should make good money out of it." She happens to have a bad habit of calling everyone 'it', no matter the gender or species.

"Got it, boss," one of the thugs proclaims, puffing his chest out proudly and lugging his haul off down the road.

She smirks and waves away her other supporters, crouching beside a sleeping redhead. She cups Lina's chin in her hand and whispers in her ear, "Good luck finding your companion, Lina. We'll be sure to put it in a nice place."

As the woman makes her way out of the clearing, Amelia wakes up with a start, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

All she sees is a pair of pitch-black travelling boots.

* * *

"Miss Lina! Wake up! We have an emergency!" Amelia cries urgently, shaking Lina awake.

The redhead blinks up at her, noticing that moonlight is cast on her features. "Amelia, what is it? It's the middle of the night! I need my sleep!" When Lina sees Gourry standing outside, hand on his scabbard, glancing warily around, her eyes widen in horror. "Where's Zelgadis?"

"I-I don't know, Miss Lina!" Amelia sobs. "Someone cast a Sleep spell on me. They captured him and ran away!"

Lina leaps up and yells, "Come on, Gourry, they can't have gone far!"

The threesome begins walking. Long after sunrise they realize how hungry they are, but both Lina and Amelia refuse to stop walking, and Gourry doggedly follows them down the trail.

It's near noon when they're forced to stop, and that's only because Amelia tripped on something and broke her ankle.

"Miss Lina, I'm fine," the princess insists as Lina sends Gourry off to cut down a tree to make crutches out of.

"You're not fine, Amelia," the redhead says. "Even if Zelgadis has been captured, it doesn't mean that they're moving any faster than we are. Trust me, I want to find him as badly as you do, but we need to eat and regain our strength first."

They spend five minutes catching fish, two minutes cooking them, and thirty seconds eating before they continue walking at a slower pace. Amelia complains the whole time that she can just hop on one foot or something, but Lina won't let her. When Amelia's complaints get unbearable, Lina lets her use Ray Wing to speed up. Soon the companions are moving at a constant pace, only stopping when the growls of their stomachs get loud enough to wake Seyruun.

Lina mainly ignores her stomach, lost in thought the entire time. Who would take Zelgadis? Why would they take him? And how did they do so without waking him, unless...?

"Guys," Lina whispers, "I think they may have cast a heavy Sleep spell on Zelgadis, like, a really tough one, since he's such a light sleeper. Otherwise they would have had to gag him, tie him with chains, and stuff him in a bag without waking him up."

"Which means...?" Amelia questions, healing her ankle a bit.

"That means that whoever is working against us is a very powerful sorcerer with a lot of thugs, and _that _means that we're not moving fast enough." Lina grabs Gourry under the arms and yells, "Ray Wing!"

Amelia follows, a worried expression on her face as she thinks of what they possibly could have done to Rezo's great-grandson.

* * *

Pale pink eyes watch a moving picture, hands hovering over glass. "Blister," an elegant voice calls.

"Yesss, Misstresss?" A dark green demon with sky blue eyes and claws slithers down the hallway, towards its master.

"I want you to follow them. Don't attack until I tell you to, got it?" Her voice is almost threatening as she turns to gaze at her prize in the corner.

"Of coursssse, Misstresss," the demon hisses, teleporting out of sight.

She smirks down at the sleeping man. "Welcome to my home, Zelgadis Greywords. Rezo's great-grandson, huh? I could do a lot with you...but for now I want you to retain your sanity. Your knowledge may be of use to me."


End file.
